


I Love You, Naruto Uzumaki

by SasukeUzumaki



Category: Naruto
Genre: Bleh, Cute, Fluff, M/M, SORRY I'VE BEEN GONE, go find your happiness, its not always a person, longer read, rated t for language and like a couple mentions of the do, so here's a thing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-06
Updated: 2018-04-06
Packaged: 2019-04-19 03:48:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,929
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14228571
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SasukeUzumaki/pseuds/SasukeUzumaki
Summary: Naruto had his life figured out young, until he got divorced, lost his job and his place. He cursed love and happiness, since they obviously couldn't be his. Years later, at his boring job, he meets Sasuke, a real jerk who sits next to him at the district wide meetings. Turns out Sasuke's just an anxious wreck with the ability to turn Naruto's life, and frown, upside down.





	I Love You, Naruto Uzumaki

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this in celebration of 400 followers on Tumblr. It's not a lot, but it means a lot.
> 
> This story is about Naruto finding the happiness he turned his back on, much like I've done myself. I want you all to know that it's never too late to do what you want to do. I stopped writing fanfictions for 4 years, 4! before I wrote The Sketchbook for my blog and ultimately came back into the game. And I did that because of the popularity of my Naruto posts on Tumblr.
> 
> I'm not a teenager anymore, many people seem to think I'm too old for this kind of thing, but I'm not. You're never too old to do what you love.
> 
> Kind of uplifting piece, hopefully. Enjoy!

Naruto had his life figured out. At the age of 18, he would get married to the ever beautiful Hinata, at 20 he would have a nice place to live, and at the age of 21 he would have a well-paying job in his field to help him and his wife get by. Everything was going to plan.

At 24, he got a divorce.

And suddenly nothing was right anymore. Naruto cursed the stupid idea of love. Nothing was going according to plan. He got fired from his job 3 years later, at the age of 27, and evicted shortly afterwards.

This wasn’t what he had in mind. He scrambled for a place to stay, the time between losing his house and homing with a friend of an old friend was a long 7 months. He never got his job back, or any job in that field, and he cursed everything in existence.

At 28, Naruto Uzumaki gave up on happiness.

* * *

 

Naruto’s hand sought out the chirping phone on his bedside table groggily. Naruto was not ready for the day. He swiped to dismiss the alarm as he brought the phone to his face. He had 5 minutes before he had to desperately get up, and 10 minutes until he would be borderline late to work. But… if he skipped breakfast and got dressed quickly, he could add an extra 3 minutes to that 10.

Being late to a newer job might not be the best business practice, so Naruto forced himself to sit up in his bed. He blinked at the floor absentmindedly, his mind going over his morning routine for getting ready for work.

It was only when his phone chirped another warning that he realized that he had not gotten up yet. He went to his dresser to pull out a shirt and just stared for a bit. Which shirt should he wear? They were all practically the same, but this one had a stain around the waist from a quick breakfast he had one day that he would have to be extra careful to cover. _Buuut_ , on the other hand, this one had a hole near the cuff of the right sleeve, which everyone made snide remarks about when they saw it. This one –

His phone chirped another warning. Great, he was now in borderline late territory, and that extra 3 minutes weren’t going to be spent on laying in bed _or_ breakfast. Naruto grimaced as he pulled on his stained shirt, hoping he could somehow manage to keep it covered the whole day.

Not the best morning routine, but, hey, it was something.

* * *

 

Naruto answered the phone as he entered his car.

“Yup?” Naruto greeted.

“Dude, where are you? The meeting starts in 15.”

“ _15?_ I thought it started at 9?”

“No, it starts at 8:30.”

“ _Fuck_!” Naruto exclaimed, “Why didn’t you tell me that, Kibs?”

“I thought you _knew!”_ Kiba shot back, “The district wide meetings _always_ start earlier than ours!”

“District wide? You know I haven’t done those before… wait, where are they?”

“Holy fu- here, I’ll text you the address. They seriously ask me why I asked for them to bring you on as the new hire, you know that, right?”

“Hey, I know, I have to get my act together, I’ve heard that before.”

“Well, do it. Don’t drag me down with you.”

“I gotta put this address in, Kibs, bye.”

“Bye.”

Naruto sighed.

* * *

 

Naruto rushed into the hallway at 8:25. Kiba looked at him like Naruto had just murdered his neighbour’s bird or something.

“Hey, I’m here, aren’t I?” Naruto asked.

“Yeah, I suppose. I’m going to warn you now – I took the time to look over the seating arrangements, and you’re gonna be sitting next to the most grade A bitch any of us have ever heard of; Uchiha.”

“What’s wrong with Uchiha?” Naruto asked.

“Everything,” Sakura leaned over, “he’s absolutely anal about everything and will get after you for anything.”

“Except he doesn’t talk, he just glares.” Shikamaru added.

“Lucky for you, I haven’t seen him yet, so he might’ve bailed today.” Kiba nudged Naruto lightly, “we’re going in now, suggest you do, too.”

“Yeah, ok.”

Naruto watched them enter before he made his way over to his chair. He gave a small “excuse me” to the people he stepped over. His chair was labelled “Naruto U.” on a large orange paper. At least Naruto liked orange.

Naruto waited boredly for the presentation to start, grimacing at the frequent realization that he was now a boring business man.

He had never been to a district wide business meeting, as they were supposed to happen every month but the previous month, the month Naruto started, the presenter went out of country for family matters. Every month one employee of the branch had to give a presentation on whatever topic they were fed. This could be on a new product, new numbers that had come out, common complaints, and even competitions that were going on. Naruto was completely prepared to scream internally the whole time.

Some commotion began to his left. He looked over at a man stepping over people only to glare at them if they piped up. He walked stiffly to his seat beside Naruto. Naruto looked him over, noting that while he was pretty, he looked pretty royally pissed off.

“Hey.” Naruto realized that speaking might’ve not been the best decision when Sasuke looked over at him angrily.

“Dude, sorry,” Naruto held up his hands defensively, “just wanted to talk.”

Naruto slumped as he looked toward the front again. The movement in his peripheral vision made him want to scream. He looked over at Sasuke, who was fidgeting with his hands. Picking his nails, digging them into his palms, scratching the backs of them, just unholy amounts of fidgeting. Naruto’s eyebrow twitched.

“Are you ok?” Naruto asked. Sasuke glared once again but ceased his movements for a moment.

Naruto sighed contentedly as he sat back in minor victory.

…until Sasuke started picking at the hairs on his pants.

Naruto was about to say something again until he looked, and this time he really, really looked, at Sasuke’s face and noticed more discomfort than anything.

He was anxious.

Suddenly Naruto realized what it must’ve felt like for others to see him, to see this mess of a man and get annoyed by everything they saw, when really Naruto was just horrifically depressed and dreaded getting out of bed in the morning.

The meeting had started, but Naruto’s mind wasn’t following. He watched Sasuke as Sasuke watched the stage in the presentation room, wondering about him.

Sasuke looked young, younger than Naruto, 33 himself by this point, by a long shot. He saw the effort he put into his appearance, wondering if he put that much effort in because he was scared of people picking out things he didn’t do.

Naruto snorted softly at the thought. If anything, the effort brought more attention to him. He was definitely something to look at.

…and then he was back to the hands that trembled as the picked at the cuffs of his immaculately white sleeves. Was Sasuke always this nervous, or was it the large crowd? Looking back to his face, there were slight bags under his eyes, suggesting many long nights of work. Did he work to keep his mind off of things?

It was only when Naruto noticed the trembling in Sasuke’s hands become more pronounced that he realized Sasuke noticed him looking. Sasuke suddenly looked like he was trying not to cry. Naruto looked forward again, Sasuke visibly relaxing beside him somewhat.

* * *

 

The meeting lasted 2 terribly long and dragging hours. Luckily enough, this was considered work, so they were off the hook for the rest of the day. The business practices there were… strange, but whatever.

Naruto was immediately greeted by his friends as he walked out of the room.

“Hey man, you survived! Wanna drink?” Kiba pointed towards the exit.

“Yeah, uh…” Naruto looked behind him where Sasuke was shoving past people.

“Dude, leave him alone, we all know he’s a dick.” Kiba gestured towards everyone.

“I just thought he might…” Naruto thought about how nervous Sasuke had been, “…never mind, let’s go.”

“Ayyy, there we go!” Kiba smacked Naruto hard on the back.

“Careful, Inuzuka, you’ll break him.” Sakura teased.

Naruto turned to look back one more time. Something about Sasuke was captivating, and he didn’t know what.

* * *

 

Naruto groaned, increasing in volume as if it had the power to turn his alarm off. He snatched the phone off his bed side table and angrily shut his alarm off.

He let his arm fall limp at his side. He wasn’t sure he wanted to go to work today.

Not like he didn’t feel like that every day, but he was _definitely_ feeling it today. The next district wide meeting was today. It was the thought of seeing Sasuke that got him out of bed.

* * *

 

8:15 am. Better than last time.

“Hey, man, you’re here earlier than last time.” Kiba jested.

“Yeah, I know.” Naruto commented nonchalantly.

“I here Aburame is doing today’s presentation. His always get a little… weird.” Sakura lowered her voice.

“Weird?” Naruto asked.

“He likes bugs.” Shikamaru said.

“What’s wrong with that?” Naruto asked again.

“Dude,” Kiba placed a hand on Naruto’s shoulder, “after the meeting, just look back on this moment and ask yourself, _is there any way to explain this to my naïve self of the past?”_

“…if I can remember that, I might.” Naruto lightly pushed Kiba’s arm off him, “I’m going in.”

“Already?” Kiba asked.

Naruto looked at the box in his hand.

“Yup.”

* * *

 

Naruto felt a strange sense of glee when he heard the ruckus coming from the end of the row on his left. He had only seen the man once, but he was excited to sit next to Sasuke again for another mind-numbingly and apparently potentially weird 2-hour long presentation.

Sasuke almost sat down before he glared at Naruto. Naruto looked away as Sasuke sat down. He gave it a couple minutes before he looked back. Sasuke, again, looked heavily uncomfortable. His hands were a flurry of movement with their endless fidgeting.

Naruto nudged Sasuke with his elbow, causing Sasuke to jump.

“Hey,” Naruto handed him the small box, “here.”

Sasuke eyed him cautiously as he hesitantly brought the box to him. Naruto sat up in his seat again, looking away for a bit as Sasuke opened it.

There were a few moments of silence between the two, where neither moved much in their spot.

“Why.”

It was one word, but Naruto almost jumped at it. He was neither expecting the deep nor the smooth qualities of the man’s voice.

“W-what do you mean, why? I thought it could help.” Naruto said quickly.

“I did not ask for your help, I do not require it.” Sasuke said angrily.

The meeting started before Naruto could get another word in. He began to question everything he had done in his life up until that point every time his mind brought back the sheer _insult_ in Sasuke’s voice. What did he do? Naruto thought he had been doing the right thing, but apparently not.

Sasuke continued to be an enigma.

* * *

 

Naruto quickly grabbed his phone as it started its morning chanting. He sat up and rubbed his eyes. After a nice long yawn, he looked at his dresser. If he stayed in bed for another 5 minutes, he would be pushing it, another 10, borderline, and another –

Naruto physically swiped at the air to clear his mind. He’s going to get up. Now.

And, no, this totally wasn’t because of the district wide meeting today.

* * *

 

Naruto took the steps two at a time up into the building before slipping straight into the vast, and mostly empty, meeting room. He sat in his seat and browsed the internet on his phone.

The seat beside him filled without the usual commotion at the end of the row. Naruto smiled as he heard a faint whizzing sound.

He was wearing it.

Naruto looked at Sasuke, who was obviously trying to not look at him. He was glad he had guessed the ring size correctly, either that or Sasuke had sized it somehow, because it filled him with some sense of happiness that he was actually using it. Sasuke absentmindedly spun the ring with his thumb. Naruto took care to note that he seemed a little less stressed out today.

“Hey.” Naruto greeted softly.

“Hm.” Sasuke hummed in return.

“…how are you?” Naruto pressed his luck.

“Hm.” Sasuke hummed dismissively, still not looking at Naruto.

“Alright.” Naruto looked forward again.

The meeting started, but this time, the length felt nice – a long time, no doubt, but a long time he gets to sit next to Sasuke.

* * *

 

After the meeting Naruto rushed out after Sasuke. Sasuke was small and fast and was not afraid to push people out of his way. Naruto was neither small, fast, nor willing to push people aside, and getting to Sasuke was proving to be a very difficult task.

Sasuke had slipped into the parking lot and straight out of existence it seemed by the time Naruto had made it past the doors. He cursed his luck.

Maybe next time.

* * *

 

Naruto walked over to his bed side table to disable his alarms. He went back to the closet to choose which shirt to wear – he had bought new ones recently, and, while they all looked nearly identical, they all had their slight quirks. This one had a thread that was too long poking past a button, this one had one button hole more than the others, etc.

He decided to wear the second one, since he needed more pockets for luck than usual.

He was off to the meeting around the time his alarm would go off.

* * *

 

After the meeting, Naruto practically lunged at Sasuke to get him to stay, but Sasuke was much more agile than that. How in the hell, was he part squirrel or something?

Naruto ran after Sasuke with a great deal of determination – he _would_ talk to the man today.

Naruto caught him right at the doorway to the parking lot. Sasuke backed into the wall.

“Dude, I just wanna talk, man!” Naruto said between intakes of breath.

“About what? I didn’t do anything, what do you want?” Sasuke asked.

“I wanted to ask if you wanted to hang out!”

Sasuke gave him a blank look.

“What?”

“I want to hang out. With you,” Naruto continued, “everyone goes out to eat after and I wanted to know if you wanted to.”

“I don’t like people.” Sasuke tried to slip away again.

“Well, it won’t be a lot of people, I promise.” Naruto said softly. Sasuke turned to him.

“…promise?”

“Promise.” Naruto nodded.

* * *

 

Sasuke brought him to a small place on the outskirts of town. It was cute and quirky, and very quiet. Naruto surmised that that’s how Sasuke preferred it.

They were sat quickly. Sasuke quietly sat across from Naruto, spinning the ring on his finger. Naruto smiled.

“You come here a lot?” Naruto asked.

“Hm? Oh, yes.” Sasuke answered.

The tightly wound stress that often adorned Sasuke’s face were absent, for the most part.

“You don’t like crowds?” Naruto inquired.

“No.”

The silence that fell between them was a pleasurable one. Naruto went through thousands of conversations with Sasuke in his head before he had realized he was mentally talking to the man whilst ignoring his physical presence.

Naruto cleared his throat.

“So… you have any travel plans for the future?”

Sasuke looked at him blankly.

“I know it’s not a typical conversational starter, but uh…” Naruto scratched his head subconsciously.

“Do you?” Sasuke asked.

“What?” Naruto looked up, “Ah, no. I don’t travel much, besides for work.”

“Hm…” Sasuke looked down at his hand, “I was thinking about going up North somewhere for a week or so. I could do with some snow.”

“Where? New York or somewhere around there? Because that’s where I usually go - …I used to go, back when I traveled.”

“What was in New York?” Sasuke asked.

“Uh… family.”

“You don’t visit your family anymore?”

“My ex-wife’s family.”

“Oh…” Sasuke looked down, “sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, it’s not your fault.”

“I say sorry for bringing it up. Why would your divorce be my fault? I hardly know you.” Sasuke fidgeted with the ring lightly.

“…you never told me where you’re planning to go.”

“Up North.”

“Yeah, but where? Northeast, Northwest, North… south?”

Sasuke snorted.

“How could I go Northsouth? Would Northsouth not be here, since it is neither North or South of us?”

“You’re confusing me.” Naruto laughed.

“You’re just stupid.”

“Hey!” Naruto said defensively, “That’s fair.” He added dismissively.

Sasuke laughed this time. Naruto felt his heart flutter.

“I have no idea. I’ve been up North a couple times, but only alongside my late brother,” Sasuke spun the ring faster, “I thought I’d give a trip up there a try. He passed about 5 years ago.”

“Oh.” Naruto looked down uncomfortably.

“I used to live up there many years ago. It was okay.”

“Well… do you like it here?”

“The people are too nosy.”

Naruto laughed lightly, not sure if it was okay to do so.

“It’s ok, I sometimes forget to not say certain things. I didn’t mean to bring down the mood.”

“I brought it down with my ex-wife mention.”

“I’m the one that brought it up. And it’s ok,” Sasuke stopped his fidgeting to look at the ring, “it’s life. Life is the only thing we all go through. And sometimes it is good, and sometimes it is hell.” Sasuke spun the ring again, “And that’s life.”

* * *

 

Naruto hung out with Sasuke monthly after that. The fact that Sasuke was much calmer around him made Naruto dance happily inside. He could tell when Sasuke wasn’t comfortable by the increased fidgeting with the ring. It was nice to know, because Sasuke could be quite anxious.

But it was nice, spending time with him, speaking with him, joking and laughing with him, and soon they hung out weekly, then daily. Naruto realized that Sasuke’s “asshole” attitude was more his “I’m hella uncomfortable stay out of my lane” attitude, and he felt blessed to see Sasuke in the absence of both. He could be a little bit of a jerk, but he was… something.

That something was what made Naruto slightly nervous. He was too old for this, for this “something”.

It was when they were watching a movie. Naruto wasn’t sure which one, because he was on his phone more often than he was paying attention. Sasuke was sitting beside him. They don’t know what really happened, what had led up to it, but Naruto looked at Sasuke, Sasuke looked at Naruto, and they kissed.

Naruto didn’t dare entertain the thought of love, not this late in the game, but he found himself lightly cupping Sasuke’s left cheek as their lips brushed together ever so softly.

* * *

 

One day, during their semi-weekly walk, Naruto pointed to a tree.

“See that one, right there?” Naruto asked.

“Yup.” Sasuke replied.

“That is the last tree I ever climbed.”

“Really?” Sasuke drawled slightly, “How do you remember that?”

“I was seven years old. We were on a school trip to that small museum over there,” Naruto gestured off somewhere to their right, “And I came out here and tried to scale it – you know, look cool for the ladies.”

Sasuke scoffed.

“But I uh, I fell, because the tree was slick with the rain water from earlier in the day,” Naruto chuckled, “and I broke my right arm. I’m right handed. Learning to do everything with my left hand was so awful that I never climbed another tree again.”

“Did you climb them often?” Sasuke tried not to laugh.

“Often enough. Maybe breaking my arm made me think about my decisions or something.”

“You became a man from breaking your arm at seven years old?” Sasuke valiantly attempted to suppress his laughter.

“Well, I mean –“

“Naruto, I’ve known you for a little over a year and a half now. Let me reassure you that you still make the most questioning and the most downright awful decisions I have ever even heard a man make.”

“Why is that a good thing?” Naruto asked.

“You are a very unique individual.” Sasuke stated plainly.

“Ok?”

“You’re also an idiot.”

“Oh. It always comes back to that, doesn’t it?”

“To what?”

“That I’m an idiot.” Naruto shrugged.

“Hey,” Sasuke lightly took hold of Naruto’s hand, “idiot looks good on you.”

Naruto smiled.

* * *

 

Naruto always looked forward to his time with Sasuke. Sasuke was so easy to be around. It was liberating, possessing the ability to be completely uninhibited around someone other than himself and occasionally the plants in his house. He had never had the opportunity – Hinata had always tried to get him to do things in certain ways, to tie him down and make him a respectable human being.

Sasuke saw the strange quirks Naruto had, the wild energy about him, the fiery passion in his eyes… and he took it in stride. He seemed to appreciate Naruto is a way no one else had, and Naruto was sure no one ever would again.

So, he allowed himself to get more and more lost in the kisses he gave Sasuke, let his hands worship his shape, let his breath ghost along Sasuke’s light skin and just breathe the man in. They endlessly teased one another, had never engaged in straight up intercourse, but Naruto found these times to be _so much better_ than anything he had ever had. The feel of him, the smell of him, the sight of him and those piercing eyes of his…

Sasuke was Naruto’s paradise.

* * *

 

Naruto rested his hands on his knees as he breathed rapidly.

“God, Sas, how much longer?” Naruto whined.

“Not much, maybe another… 10 minutes?”

Naruto stood up and groaned.

“I’m too old for this, Sas! I’m an old man, let me rest.”

“You’re not _old,_ Naruto,” Sasuke grabbed Naruto’s arm and tugged on it, “you’re only making excuses.”

“I’m 36, Sasuke, I’m old. I’m almost 40.”

Sasuke scoffed, “Well, I am 40, so what’s your excuse?”

“Y-you’re? No way. There’s no _way_ you’re older than me.”

“Why, can you not tell?” Sasuke asked.

“No! Because you’re not!”

“I will tell you a secret, ok? Are you ready?”

“Yes.”

Sasuke moved to whisper in Naruto’s ear.

“I’m 40.” Sasuke walked away.

“No, you’re not!” Naruto yelled after Sasuke.

“Yes, I am!”

* * *

 

They sat beside each other on Naruto’s couch. Sasuke was humming along to the song in his headphones. Naruto watched as Sasuke bobbed his leg and swayed his head slightly to the beat. Naruto smiled.

This was nice. They did their own things, settled beside each other to enjoy the company. There were no expectations, just being here together was enough. Comfortable silence was much better than forced conversation. Naruto was liking that part. When he was younger, he would’ve hated the thought of silence for hours on end.

Sasuke was bringing things out of him that he hadn’t known. Sasuke seemed like he had known the whole time he knew him. This must be what it feels like, to find someone who knows more about you than you do. Simultaneously frightening and oddly pleasant.

“You ok?” Sasuke removed one side of his headphones.

“Uh, yeah, ok.” Naruto looked away sheepishly. How log had they known each other, and yet he was still scared of staring.

“Ok.” Sasuke put his headphones on properly once again.

Naruto pulled Sasuke to him and sighed happily.

* * *

 

Naruto found himself kissing Sasuke once again. They were on his couch. Nothing was rushed, everything was gentle. Naruto pulled back to gaze upon Sasuke.

“…you alright? I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?” Sasuke asked.

“No, no, I just wanted to look at you.”

Sasuke gave him a look.

“That’s weird.”

“That’s not weird!” Naruto said defensively, “I’m just happy I met you.”

“Are you looking to get laid this time?” Sasuke teased lightly.

“Hey, man, that’s cold.”

Sasuke laughed.

“You know I would want to take it slow if things happened.” Naruto pouted.

“’If’ things happened?”

“Yeah, if.”

“Naruto,” Sasuke placed a hand on Naruto’s cheek lightly, “it’s not an ‘if’.”

“Yeah, well…” Naruto looked off to the side, “I don’t want to force you into anything.”

“Naruto, you’re not forcing me, I asked you,” Sasuke let his hand drop, “I’m like that movie, _40 Year Old Virgin._ While I’ve never seen the film, the title fits well.”

“You’re a virgin?” Naruto asked.

“Yes.”

“How?”

Sasuke looked at him blankly.

“I didn’t have sex. At all. That’s how you do that.”

“But, I mean, you –“

“I am pretty, I’m aware, but pretty doesn’t equal promiscuous.”

“Well, yeah,” Naruto shifted slightly, “I wasn’t promiscuous, but I’m still not a virgin.”

“You were married.”

“Yeah, well –“

“You looking to make me not a virgin or not? I swear to god you’d win a prize for how easily you can talk yourself out of sex.”

“You don’t want it to mean something?” Naruto asked quietly.

“I do. And it will. Hence why _you’re_ taking my _virginity,_ which I’ve had for _40 years._ ”

“You’re just horny right now?” Naruto teased.

“You like to toy with me quite a bit, don’t you?”

Naruto looked down at Sasuke’s light hearted expression with a soft composure. He could finally notice the signs of age on Sasuke’s face – he _did_ have a couple wrinkles, but they would be hard to spot if you weren’t looking.

Naruto grinned.

“I can see your old man features.”

“Good, I can see yours, too.”

“Hey!”

“You started it.”

Naruto’s soul was singing as he descended to kiss Sasuke once again. Happiness was here.

Happiness was Sasuke.

* * *

 

Sasuke dragged Naruto hurriedly towards… somewhere, Naruto didn’t know.

They were at Sasuke’s favourite park, but they were passing everything by so quickly that Naruto knew something was up. Sasuke, despite Naruto’s desperate pleas to stop earlier, only stopped when they were in front of the tree.

“Oh, the tree I broke my arm on,” Naruto tried to regain his breath, “are you here to insult me again?”

“Naruto.” Sasuke said seriously. “Yes.”

“Oh my god.”

“You climbed this tree when you were seven, after climbing many trees before, and you somehow fell, possibly due to the rain.”

“Yeah, no need to tell me, I was there. In fact, you _weren’t_ there.”

“You broke your arm,” Sasuke continued, “and for some reason, you decided that that would be the very last time you would climb a tree.”

“Yes, that is true.” Naruto nodded.

“You got your dream job at a young age and got fired at a young age, possibly due to your discontinuation of your self-care. You decided that that would be the last job you got in that field.”

“That – that’s kinda mean.”

“You rushed into a marriage at 18 years old, not allowing yourself to adjust to your life comfortably enough before doing so. Somehow you got divorced at 24, possibly due to the fact that you weren’t ready for that kind of commitment.”

“Ok, thanks for that,” Naruto kicked at the grass by his feet.

“For some reason, you decided that that would be the very last time you loved someone.”

Naruto looked up at Sasuke.

“Maybe because you felt like such a failure, both when you broke your arm and when you lost your dream job and even when you lost her, that you felt any further effort would be a complete waste.”

Naruto stared at Sasuke. The words were hard to hear, but they resonated with something so deep within Naruto that he hadn’t noted its presence.

Sasuke walked to Naruto, grasping both hands lightly with his own.

“You are worth that effort, Naruto,” Sasuke’s face was so, so soft, that Naruto felt his insides melt, “you always will be. You don’t need anyone to tell you that for it to be true.”

Naruto nodded, unshed tears stinging his eyes.

“I love you, Naruto Uzumaki.”

Naruto’s eyes widened at Sasuke’s words and the determination behind them.

“I’m asking you to try again. To try to find happiness again.”

Naruto nodded, the tears starting to fall.

“I’m most definitely not asking you to climb this tree, because you’ll most definitely hurt yourself.”

Naruto laughed as the tears spilled more.

“But I am asking you to do it metaphorically.”

Sasuke pulled a box from his pocket. He presented it to Naruto.

“Marry me, please.”

The ring was the kind that spun, a counterpart to the one that had adorned Sasuke’s finger since the second time they had met.

“It is never too late to seek out your happiness, Naruto. I want you to know that.”

Naruto cried. He cried and cried and cried as he pulled Sasuke to him to wrap his arms around this amazing man. He had no idea how he had ever been so lucky.

After a bit, Naruto pulled away to look Sasuke in the eyes.

“If you think I’m going to by Naruto Uchiha, you’re an idiot. Your last name is awful.”

Sasuke laughed.

“You don’t have to take my last name.”

“Then yes.”

Sasuke lit up.

“Really?”

“Yes. I’m too tired and old to fend happiness off anymore.”

“You’re only 39.”

"Yeah, but I'm almost  _40."_

"Good god, Naruto."

 


End file.
